The Labor of the Cross

In Matthew chapter 16, Peter goes from being praised for his confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God - to being called "satan".  Why the sudden change?  Peter did not understand the labor of the cross.

Peter was having a hard time understanding the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Peter got the person of Jesus right.  Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God.  Peter did not understand the work of Jesus.  When Jesus was describing what His work on earth entailed, Peter basically said, "No way, Jesus, that will never happen to You!"  Peter had his mind on earthly things.  He thought that since Jesus really is THE Christ that He should have worldly power and glory - that He should rule mightily here on earth.

What Peter did not understand is that the labor of the cross is where true glory is found.  By living the perfect life that we are unable to, dying the death our sin deserves, and rising victoriously from the grave - Jesus has overcome sin, death, and the devil and given us the promise of eternal life!  That is true glory!  As Jesus Himself said in Matthew 20:28, "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

We too, like Peter, tend to have our minds focused on earthly things.  There’s always a subtle temptation to believe that, because we’re Christians, life should go easier than it does.  You’ve suffered some sort of setback that has you reeling and saying, "I thought God was more powerful than this. I thought He was more faithful than this. Why has Jesus failed me?"

The truth is that we’ve got the person of Christ right, but like Peter we’ve got the labor of Christ wrong. We want miracles and wonders and power on demand, not mercy and strength and patience in tribulation. We want Jesus to labor with might and power, but Jesus still ministers to us chiefly with mercy and grace. We want immediate deliverance from affliction: yet Jesus, who used His suffering on the cross to deliver us from sin, death, the power of the devil and the gates of hell, still labors through suffering—including the crosses you bear—for your good. To accuse God of being faithless during trial is simply not true, for the One who has already shown His faithfulness by dying on the Cross cannot be anything but faithful to you now.

The law here boils down to this: do not base your understanding of God’s mercy and faithfulness on how life is going. Hear of His mercy and faithfulness in His Word, and rejoice in it despite how life may be going.  Because this is true: Christ took up His Cross that you might be His follower. He laid down His life to gain life for you. Risen again, He has given you new life in your baptism, and He continues to grant you grace by His Word and Supper. As His way of saving the world perplexed Peter, so His way of permitting suffering will perplex you; but just as the Lord did not abandon
Peter, neither will He abandon you. The Day is coming when the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and many rightly fear that Judgment Day. You do not. Rather, you know that you are already innocent before God for the sake of Jesus, and you know that Judgment Day is the day when your sufferings are finally ended and only life and glory remain. The labor of the Cross is finished.  Forgiveness, life, and salvation are yours through the finished work of Jesus Christ!



Stay the Course

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

Revelation 7:10

In the movie, "The Patriot", Mel Gibson plays the title character who reluctantly takes up arms against the British Army.  After having lost his second son to this conflict, Gibson=s character, Benjamin Martin, loses his heart for the fight and is about to quit, when his commanding officer calls upon him to Astay the course@. 

So often the daily problems, heartaches, and horrors of this life seem to accumulate and weigh us down.  These struggles come at us from every direction.  Financial struggles, illness, marriage problems, depression, and broken relationships all leave us in a seemingly hopeless situation.  Despite the many struggles we face, the Lord calls us to Astay the course@ for we already have the victory.

For the Christian, all of life is lived based upon this simple promise - our victory has been won in Christ.  In Revelation, chapter 7, the promise has been heard, believed and celebrated.  ASalvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.@  The saints of God celebrate the eternal victory before there is a new heaven and new earth; before there is a New Jerusalem coming down out of the sky; before there is a river of life flowing from the throne of God.  The people of God celebrate as if it has already happened, for indeed, for the faithful in God=s grace - it is certainly true!

Victory is what the Christian life is all about!  Victory – it’s on our faces, it’s in our voices, and the truth is in our hearts.  Our loved ones who died before us have lost nothing but have in fact gone on to claim the crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge has kept for them.  Eternal life has been given to us without any merit or worthiness in us, for all it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey God - this is most certainly true!

We have already won the battle!  We have already won the battle before we lose that job, before the heart attack, before the struggle with cancer, before failure with our children or spouse, before those feelings of being hurt, lost, or lonely, before we wonder if we will ever smile again.  Before any of that, our God-given faith cries out - VICTORY!  The victory was won on Easter morning.  On that first resurrection day, God, through His Son Jesus Christ, proclaimed victory forever and nothing can change it.  Nothing can ever set it aside!  "Stay the course", for victory is yours through Christ!

Children of Light

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

John 3:20-21

A poem by J. Wilbur Chapman reads, “Christ the transforming Light, Touches this heart of mine; Piercing the darkest night, Making His glory shine.”  John 3:20-21, speaks of the contrasting difference between light and dark, and how ultimately through our baptism Christ’s light shines through us.

It is obvious that we live in a world full of sin, and as John writes in chapter three, darkness.  To put it simply, darkness is a metaphor for death and evil.  There are not many things that scare people more than darkness.  One of the reasons for this fear of the dark is the evil things that are done under the cover of darkness. 

Something that may even be scarier than the murders and robberies that go on under the cover of darkness are the sins in our own lives that we try to cover in darkness.  There are things in all of our lives that we try to keep in the dark, things we don’t want anyone else to see about us.  Addictions to drugs and alcohol, gossip about friends and co-workers, unfaithfulness in our relationships, and cheating at school are just some of the sins in our lives that we try to keep in the dark. 

What are some of the sins in your lives that you try to keep in the dark?  Though we may think that we can keep some of our sins a secret and that no one will find out, that is not the case.  No amount of darkness can keep God from knowing the secret sins of our lives.  God knows all of our sins of thought, word, and deed.

The dark news is that we are dead to our sins.  Because of the evil that we continue to do in our lives, we deserve nothing more than eternal damnation.  The Good News is that Christ has come to be the light in our lives.  Earlier in John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Through our baptism we are called sons of God.  We are brought into his good and perfect light.  God did not give us His light by taking us out of the darkness of this world, but by sending His one and only son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us all from our sins.  Christ came into our dark world and paid the ultimate price for our sins. 

John 3:21 says, “But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”  Those deeds that have been carried out in God are the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Through His death and resurrection we are saved from our sins and the eternal death that we deserve from our sins.  Because of Christ’s death and resurrection we are now called Children of the light.  Ephesians 5:8 says, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light.”

It is important for all of us to know that all of our sins, even the ones that we try to keep hidden in darkness were taken up to the cross for us through Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection.  It is with this knowledge that we can face the dark things in our lives like death, relationship problems, and financial problems, knowing that through our baptism we are brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ who died and rose again for all of our sins that we may live in his light forever.  We know that through Christ, this dark world is not all there is for us.  We have the promise of eternal life in a place where as it says in Revelation 22:5, we will not need a lamp or the sun because the Lord God will give us light. 

Live as children of light because through Christ we know that all of the sins and darkness of this world will eventually fade away, but the light of Christ will illuminate the heavens for all eternity.

Do not be afraid!

What are you afraid of?  A lot of times we don’t like to admit our fears, but we are all afraid of something.  Fear is a universal emotion.  According to psychologists, we are born with two fears already present; the fear of loud noises and fear of falling.  It does not take us long, however, to accumulate many other fears such as the fear of the dark, fear of thunder or lightning, fear of airplanes, or if you’re like me, fear of heights and spiders.

             

In Matthew chapter 14, the disciples are also afraid.  Afraid of a strong storm on the sea of Galilee.  Jesus had sent the disciples to cross the sea ahead of Him as Jesus remained by Himself to pray.  When evening came the disciples found themselves right in the middle of a storm.  The disciples were afraid because they knew well the danger of these storms.  In the midst of the storm they saw Jesus walking on the water towards them.  The disciples were terrified and thought that it was a ghost.  But Jesus called out to them and said, “It is I.  Do not be afraid.”

             

Peter then said to Jesus, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  Jesus said, “Come” and Peter got out of the boat and started walking towards Jesus.  But then Peter noticed the wind and the waves around Him and started to sink.  He cried out for Jesus to save him.  Jesus immediately reached out His hand and saved him from sinking.  When they got into the boat the disciples began to worship Jesus saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

            

 This text shows us that Jesus truly is God.  It shows us that Jesus is not only God, but He is a God who comforts.  He is a God who enables.  And most importantly, He is a God who saves.

             

Jesus shows His comfort to the disciples in the middle of a raging storm.  Matthew 14:27 says, “But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, “Take heart; it is I.  Do not be afraid.”  Those words of Jesus had their comforting effect on the disciples.  The amazing reality that it was their Lord and Master who was standing on the water gave them comfort from their fear of the storm.  Peter who a few moments earlier was in a state of terror was now at the opposite extreme, having strong enough faith to ask Jesus to call to him to get out of the boat and walk on water.

             

The God of comfort also comforts us today, even in the midst of the storms of life.  When the hardships and turmoil of this world rain down on us, when waves of bills seem to drown us, when worry floods our thoughts, and fear strikes like lightning, God comes to us and gives us His words of comfort.  God works through the Word when we read the Bible.  The Bible uses the words “fear not” 365 times, one for every day that we are in need of God’s comfort.  God gives us His comfort through the promise that he will always be there for us.  We have the comfort of knowing that every time we go to God in prayer He hears us and He will answer according to His perfect will.  Just as Jesus came to the disciples in their time of need in the storm.  Jesus comes to us when we need Him.  We don’t need to do anything to get His attention.  Jesus promises that the comfort of His presence will always be with us.

Our God is a God who enables.  When Peter asked Jesus to call him to walk on the water; Jesus said “Come” and Peter was then able to walk on the water.  The reason Peter was able to walk on the water was because His focus and His faith were in Jesus.  As soon as Peter looked down into the storm and saw the waves and felt the might winds he started to sink. 

Peter’s situation can also be applied to our own lives.  When we read this story we can’t help but concentrate of Peter; how he got out onto the water with his eyes focused on Jesus, on the presence of Jesus.  And then in a moment of doubt, his eyes were diverted to the wind, to the storm, to the size of the waves; and he then began to sink.  And that is how it is so often with our own lives.  Rather than focusing on Jesus, we focus on the storm which is raging in our lives and we start to sink.  We start to sink because we are focusing on the storm rather than on the saving presence of God in our lives.  We are focusing on our lack of money, on our families struggles, on our illnesses and hardships; instead of keeping our focus on God who is more powerful than any storm life can bring.  God enables us to whether the storms of life through the peace and comfort that only He can give.

             

In our sinfulness we often find it hard to keep our focus on God.  The storms of life around us seem way too overwhelming and we, like Peter, get caught looking down into the storm.  We get caught looking down into all of our problems and hardships that at times lead us to be overwhelmed.  The answer to the times in life when we are overwhelmed is to be intentionally looking to God.  Time spent reading the Word, where God promises to be and where we find comfort in His promises.  Time spent in prayer, where we are promised that we are heard and will be answered.  Time spent with fellow believers at church and Bible study and throughout the week where we can encourage one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.  All of these help us to keep our focus where it needs to be.  It is only when we look to God that we can see a difference; that we can be comforted by our God who is more powerful than anything in the world.  Our God who enables us to do anything through Him.  We have a God who enables us to say along with Paul in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Matthew 14 also shows us the most important quality of God, that He is a God who saves.  Peter cried out, “Lord, save me” as he was sinking into the water.  Matthew tells us that “Immediately” Jesus reached His hand out to Peter and saved him.

             

Peter’s cry out to Jesus as he was drowning is also the cry of each and every one of us as we are drowning in sin.  In the midst of all our sin and hardships, Jesus hears our cry for help and He has responded.  He responded with his saving life, death, and resurrection.  Paul writes, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”.  Christ died to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Christ died so that not even the fiercest storms of life can separate us from the gift of salvation which Christ gave to us through His death and resurrection.